The Twelve Trials of Mio
by LordByronMudkippington
Summary: With the members of HTT now at university, Ritsu has decided to take it upon herself to cure Mio of her fears once and for all. But how will Mio respond to this?
1. Chapter 1 - The Intruder

It was already noon, but the occupied bed made no movement. It wasn't like her to sleep this late, but recently she had begun feeling extremely exhausted, and it had turned into her sleeping in late. Though it was the weekend, it was very uncharacteristic of her. A knock sounded at her door. At first she didn't hear it, still deep in slumber, but it grew louder and repetitious, forcing her eyes open to search blearily for the location of the noise. "Unhh.. Hold on, I'm coming." Slowly and gently she pushed the covers off of her body, shivering slightly at the chill that hit the soles of her feet once they found the carpet. Another knock sounded out and, now slightly annoyed, she unlocked her door and pulled it open, finding her roommate - and best friend - standing there, already fully dressed and with a slightly confused look on her face.

"Oy, Mio, it's already twelve o'clock. What in the world are you still sleeping for?" On instinct, Mio looked over at her alarm clock; the red, silent '12:02' stared back at her. Goodness, she had slept half the day away, though she was still too tired to have an appropriate reaction to it.

"Ritsu, I was still sleeping..." She covered her mouth as a yawn caused her entire body to shake, then used her free hand to try and wipe the sleep from her eyes.

"You wake me up much earlier than this, so fair's fair." Mio sighed softly, but she did have a point. "Anyway, let's eat! I'm starving!"

"Alright, alright. Let me get dressed first."

* * *

Another shiver coursed through Mio's body, and the raven-haired girl crossed her arms across her chest in a vain attempt to keep warm. Fall had hit them pretty hard, and it was a lot colder than usual; despite her heavy jacket, she still felt cold. Ritsu seemed just fine though; she didn't even bother wearing a jacket. _How is she not cold?_ "Mio." The calling of her name broke her from her thoughts, and she focused on her friend walking besides her.

"What is it, Ritsu?"

"You know how you're always telling me to apply myself and improve my studies and stuff?"

"Yeah." She gave a Ritsu a slightly confused look, a gentle tilt of the head adding onto it.

"Well, don't you think you should be improving too?" Mio stopped in her tracks, shocked by what Ritsu had said. It wasn't wrong, exactly, but to hear it from the master of laziness herself caught her off guard. It wasn't her being egotistical either, but what exactly she needed to 'improve' on didn't immediately come to mind. She was doing fine in her classes, after all. Ritsu soon realized that Mio had stopped moving and followed suit, turning around to face her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She gave Ritsu an indignant look, who shot her arms up in mock surrender.

"Seriously Mio, we're university students already and you're still such a fraidy cat. Don't you think that schtick is getting old?"

"Eh?!" Well, it was hard to deny that. After all, she had been rather... easily startled since she was a child, and while it wasn't _that_ bad anymore, it wasn't exactly great. Still, it wasn't like she could just stop being a 'fraidy cat', though maybe she hadn't tried hard enough... "Y-you're thinking too much about it, Ritsu. Come on, you said you were hungry." Her feet finally began to move again, and she purposefully strode forward, ignoring the exaggerated sigh her friend gave her. Was it really that bad?

"I'm serious though, Mio."

"Since when have you ever been serious?" The two girls were sitting in the university's cafeteria, and for once Ritsu hadn't scarfed down her food immediately. Instead she was giving Mio a strangely serious look, though that hint of playfulness could never truly leave her eyes.

"Right now! You know, it is October. It's the perfect month to cure you of your 've always helped me before; now let me help you." It was really strange to hear Ritsu talk like this, and it made her give more consideration to it than she would have otherwise. The thing was, she didn't want to face her fears in the first place. It would just cause those fears to rise up in full force, not eliminate them. Couldn't anyone leave that part of her alone rather than exploit it for their own amusement?

"I don't know... What exactly is going to cure me of my fears?"

"Heh heh, I thought you'd never ask." A flash of energy seemed to go through Ritsu's eyes, and she suddenly slapped the desk with her hand and said, a bit too loud for Mio's liking, "I call it: The Twelve Trials of Mio!" A few eyes glanced over at them, causing the dark-haired girl to attempt to shrink into her chair, eyes wide with embarrassment as she gestured at her friend.

"Not so loud! People are staring!"

"Should we work on your shyness next, _Mio-chan_?"

"... N-no. Shut up, Ritsu..."

"Alright!" A big grin was plastered on Ritsu's face. "Your first trial will start tomorrow, so try not to sleep too late this time." She then returned to eating her lunch, leaving Mio to sit there with a bemused expression on her face. She was getting lectured by Ritsu now, of all people. How embarrassing.

* * *

She was having trouble sleeping. It wasn't a wide-awake tossing and turning restlessness, but instead she was questioning things, and her brain refused to let her sleep. Up until now, her being easily scared was just a normal event in her life, and it wasn't something she had spent a lot of time questioning. They had never had an intervention over Yui's spastic nature, or Miss Sawako's rather perverted intentions, so why was it that she now needed one? Somewhere in her mind she could see that, logically, it wasn't good to be so startled over things that most people wouldn't be, and she clearly was aware of it, but... She shook her head slightly, unable to bring herself around to a good conclusion, and so she just laid there and stared at the ceiling, just as confused as she had been earlier. A gentle creaking sound broke the silent tension permeating the room.

Mio shot up in bed like a rocket, eyes wide and darting all over her room to determine where the sound had come from, but nothing stood out. It must've just been her imagination. As she slowly laid her head back down, the same sound reached her ears again. Without really thinking about it, she grasped the bed covers tightly, her breathing coming a bit faster than before. Once again, slower this time, she raised her head and looked around. There was nothing that stood out in the darkness, but she then noticed that her closet door was ajar. Her breath caught in her throat; _'I know I closed that door!'_ Then why was it open? A cold sweat broke out on her neck, but she forced herself to breathe again and lay her head back down on the pillow. Her talk with Ritsu had just gotten her a bit wound up, and she was hearing things; apparently seeing things too. It was tough to close her eyes, but she needed to at least try and sleep, so finally she shut her eyes and tried to calm herself. That concentration on being calm was soon enough broken by the fact that her face was feeling strangely warmer than it should be. Feeling slightly annoyed, she opened her eyes again on instinct, and looked straight up into the face of another person, their features masked in shadow.

The scream Mio unleashed was loud enough to wake the entire building, and she immediately jumped up in a desperate attempt to break from her bed covers and escape. Instead, she smashed her forehead against her after hours visitor, and she let out a low moan of pain, seeing stars circling her vision as she stumbled and eventually fell off the bed right onto her back. The suddenness of it temporarily knocked the breath out of her, and when she was finally able to force herself to start moving, a very familiar voice came from her unfamiliar attacker. "Owwww, Mio. That hurt, geeze."

"R-Ritsu?!" Now on her knees, Mio looked over at the shadowy figure who, now that she got a better look at them, became more and more familiar. Fear was still pounding inside of her, causing her heart to race as if she had ran a marathon, but anger began building steadily in her head, and when she shouted this time it was not because she was scared. "What the hell was that for, Ritsu?! You scared me half to death!"

"Tsk tsk, Mio-chan. You already failed your first trial."

"T-trial? What are you talking about?" With the adrenaline slowly but surely subsiding, she could now more clearly feel a headache courtesy of her bumping into her 'attacker'. She was definitely not in the mood for games.

"I told you that I'd start training you to conquer your fears tomorrow, and since it's after midnight, your training's already begun!" Mio did not feel like dealing with Ritsu's training. A sudden urge to wipe that goofy grin off her best friend's face rose up inside of her, but she quickly quashed it, for fear she'd do something that she'd regret.

"A-are you crazy?! You can't just pretend to be a burglar! What if I had called the cops on you?!"

"Oh come on, Mio. You know I would've tied you up before you even thought to get your phone."

"Get out of here, Ritsu! Now!" A fresh wave of anger washed over the raven-haired girl, and apparently Ritsu knew better than to push her luck any further, for she jumped up and retreated with a repressed giggle. Mio slammed the door behind her and locked it, her hands shaking as she went back to bed. She was able to lay down again, but despite knowing that it had only been a childish prank, she couldn't stop her heart from beating faster than desired, and she couldn't stop her eyes from looking around the room at every sound real or imagined. Sleep didn't bring her any comfort.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Curse

She spent the next three days almost exclusively locked up in her room. It had been absolutely mortifying having others look on as she nearly burst into tears while the RA chewed her out for last night's noise violation. Rather than immediately get another complaint for getting into an argument with Ritsu, she ignored her friend and locked herself up in her room, staring determinedly at her pillow. About halfway through the second day, Ritsu gave up on getting Mio to respond, as she'd cover her ears and tune out all of the tomboy's door knocking. On day three, her anger had steadily begin to subside, until she could regain perfect control of her emotions. She was furious with Ritsu for pulling that trick; who was going to be calm in a crisis situation like that? It was absolutely uncalled for!

Of course, Ritsu was still her best friend and roommate, so they'd have to still live with each other. With a soft sigh, she stood up and opened her door to look into the living room. She wasn't out there, so Mio went up to her door and gently knocked on it. "Ritsu? Are you in there?" No response. She figured Ritsu must have gone out to eat or something, so she made to go back to her room. Upon turning around, she was met with a placidly-smiling and stock-still Ritsu staring right at her.

A scream threatened to erupt from her, but she desperately held back to avoid getting in trouble again, biting down on her lip so hard she drew blood. "D-dammit, Ritsu! I thought you left!"

"You startle so easily, Mio-chan," Ritsu teased playfully, giving Mio a gentle shove on the shoulder. "See, this is why I'm here to help. I'll cure you yet."

"I-I don't want to be 'cured'! Why do you always insist on doing stuff like this?"

"Because I care about you, and you can't spell 'scare' without 'care." Mio just stared at her disbelief while Ritsu laughed and grabbed her hand, dragging her to the couch despite the raven-haired girl's vehement protests. "Come on, Mio, we're going to watch something."

"Oh no, no way." Mio's eyes widened as she knew exactly what Ritsu meant. She would not be forced to watch another scary movie, no way no how. "I don't like scary movies, Ritsu!"

"Look, Mio, do you trust me?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Well, too bad!" Ritsu pushed Mio onto the couch with a flourish, getting a surprised gasp from the taller girl. The tomboy then grabbed a DVD off of the table and plopped down next to her friend, brandishing it with a knowing grin. "Ta-da!"

".. Ju-On?"

"Oh come on, this movie's gotta be a classic by now. Oh well, it's pristine horror. You'll love it."

"I doubt it." Mio sighed in defeat as Ritsu opened up the box and put the disc into the DVD player, sitting back down and starting it up with a wicked grin. It sent an involuntary shudder down the bassist's back; whatever this was, she wouldn't like it.

* * *

She didn't like it. The ugly specter of death started way too early, and it wasn't long before she was pressing her hands hard against her ears and hiding her face against Ritsu's shoulder. A wave of embarrassment washed over her due to her childish attempts at escaping something that was obviously fictional, but she couldn't help but scream every time her friend nudged her back up only to have her vision assaulted by a new horror. By the end of it, it was as if she had completely checked out, and it took a hard shaking of her shoulder by Ritsu to draw her back to reality. She realized that her heart was racing, and she couldn't recall any of the movie's ending; not like that was a bad thing. "Mio, you in there? Mio?"

"Th-that was terrible! Why would you show me that?!"

Ritsu rolled her eyes and patted Mio firmly on the shoulder. "Have you not been listening? Ahh well, I'll break through. It's gotten pretty late though. Gonna go get ready for bed or what?" Mio looked over to where the bathroom was hidden from view behind the hallway corner. It sure was dark over there. Involuntarily, she grabbed onto Ritsu's arm tightly, going red in the face when she finally noticed.

"I-I'm not tired," she muttered, only half-lying; she doubted she'd get much sleep after that anyway. When Ritsu chuckled in response, she pushed her friend in annoyance, though she didn't really feel up to getting up and going anywhere.

"Oh, you're not? That's great! We can watch the sequel then!" Mio immediately jumped to her feet, nearly sprinting for her room with a cacophony of Ritsu's laughter behind her.

* * *

Her nighttime routine was slower than usual, as she found herself looking over her shoulder every so often, watching for another of Ritsu's pranks more often than not. After all these years, she felt that maybe she should've become more immune to her best friend's tricks, but they never failed to scare her just as bad as they did when she was a kid. _Maybe Ritsu is right. This shouldn't affect me as much as it does..._ Still, admitting to a problem wasn't going to fix it, but at the same time she certainly didn't want to go through these 'trials'. They might end up killing her before they were done. With a soft sigh, she reluctantly turned off the bathroom light and began taking the dark trek back to her room. It wasn't _that_ far away, but it felt a lot longer after watching that stupid movie, and Mio found herself peeking behind the corner to make sure no one was there. Satisfied that there was no movement in the living room, she made her way over to her door, but was halted by a sound from behind her. The sound of knocking on the front door.

She froze up, staring at the door with wide eyes as a second series of knocks came forth. Plucking up as much courage as she could find within herself, she slowly stepped towards the door and looked out of the peephole. A wide eye stared right back at her. "A-ah!" Letting out a loud scream, she lost her balance and fell on her backside, trying to crawl away before a low moan echoed beyond the door: "Mio-channnn." _Wait a minute..._ Pushing herself back to her feet, Mio unlocked the door and yanked it open, standing face to face with a certain ditzy brunette, a hand brushing her long bangs out of her eyes and flashing the taller girl a guilty smile. "Ehehe, hallo Mio-chan!"

"Yui..." Mio narrowed her eyes at her friend, gripping the doorframe tightly to calm her nerves. "It's really late, Yui. What are you doing here?"

"Oh! I really wanted some rice, but I ran out. Can I borrow some of yours?"

"Why didn't you just go to the store? They should still be open." Mio felt exasperated. She was sure Yui didn't mean to scare her, but it was way too late to go around knocking on doors.

"But that's so far, Mio-channnnn." Yui always had a very adorable pout, but Mio wasn't particularly in the mood to placate her. Still, she couldn't just send her away. Shaking her head and giving in like usual, she stepped back from the door and let a thankful Yui in. It was at that time that Ritsu appeared from her room, looking over in confusion as Yui headed for the kitchen.

"Yui, why are you here?"

"Rice," she replied simply, grabbing what they had from the pantry and setting it up on the counter.

"Geeze... Here, let me help before you burn down our dorm." Ritsu seemed to have things under control, so Mio headed to her room, where she would attempt to get some sleep. After all that, Yui had been somewhat of a welcome distraction, but when she finally laid down to sleep, the only thought in her mind was one where she unhappily agreed with Ritsu: she definitely had a problem.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Beach

Mio woke with a start, clutching her sheets with a cold sweat chilling her skin. Her dreams had been plagued by never-ending halls, her footsteps echoing in an infinite loop as she ran desperately from a pale-as-death woman who always seemed to be gaining on her, Ritsu's laughter ringing in her ears. She wasn't thrilled to see that it was just after six, but with a resigned sigh she figured sleep wouldn't return to her, so she pushed off the covers and stood up, stretching her limbs and stifling a yawn. What she needed was a breath of fresh air, so she changed out of her sleepwear and slipped past Yui, who was splayed out and fast asleep on the couch, to the door, which she opened silently and headed out into the crisp morning air.

The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon as Mio lightly jogged across campus, encountering no one as she allowed herself to get lost within her thoughts. After all these years, how could she only now realize just how much of a problem her fears were? They bordered on the absolutely absurd, yet she had reasoned with herself that it was normal, that there was nothing she could do to change it anyway. Yet here was Ritsu, admittedly in her own brash way, attempting to help, and she wouldn't even accept it. She was still angry with Ritsu for treating her fears like a joke for all these years, but at the same time she was angry with herself for rejecting her friend's help outright. Maybe this was what she needed to conquer her fears once and for all. Feeling more determined, she turned around and jogged back to her dorm. She needed to speak with Ritsu.

When she got back to the dorm, Yui was still fast asleep on the couch, muttering something incomprehensibly. Too deep in her resolve to wait, Mio went and knocked on Ritsu's door, then again until she heard shuffling inside. It took a couple minutes, but the door finally opened to reveal a disheveled Ritsu staring up at Mio with tired eyes. "Mio? It's like six... thirty... s'mthin." Her speech was slightly slurred with sleep.

"Ritsu, I'm really sorry for ignoring your help." It wasn't often that Mio was the one apologizing to Ritsu; usually it was the other way around.

"Uh? Help?"

"In getting rid of my fears. You were right: it's a problem, and I need to get over it."

"That's great. I'm going back to bed. We're going to the beach this weekend." Without further explanation, Ritsu shut the door and left Mio there staring at the wood paneling.

"The beach?" Why in the world would they be going there, in the middle of October?

* * *

Despite being a place where people regularly showed as much skin as possible, Mio had never felt more awkward on a beach than right now, bundled up against the October chill and walking side by side with Ritsu. After days of asking, she still had no idea why they were here in decidedly non-beach weather, and so now she had to be content with not knowing. Ritsu seemed to know where they were going, but had yet decided to divulge why exactly they had taken a bus from campus and walked all the way to the beach. In the middle of the October. She had to know. "Ritsu, why are we here? It's freezing!"

"You'll see. We're almost there."

"Almost where?"

"You'll see."

"Ugh, you're impossible." That got a grin out of Ritsu, though Mio wasn't quite as amused. She was starting to regret putting the fate of her fears in Ritsu's hands. Eventually though, they reached a rockier section where little pools of water had formed within the stone, and Mio cautiously followed her friend there, watching as Ritsu looked all over the rock face, placing her hand inside a nook every so often, as if trying to find something specifically. "I don't want to spend all day here-"

"Take off your glove." Eh? What a request! Confused, Mio slowly pulled off her right glove and put it in her jacket pocket, the cool air immediately having an impact. "Now put your hand in here."

"Ritsu, this is stupid. I'm not going to put my hand in the- hey!" Without warning, the tomboy grabbed Mio's hand and yanked it forward, shoving it into one of the holes of the rockface. "What do you think you're... d... d-doing..." It was then that she realized that her hand wasn't touching only the rock. There was something else in there: barnacles.

"Mio, this is part of your training. Don't bail on me now. You wanted this, remember?" Despite Mio's now-desperate attempts to free her hand from its terrible prison, Ritsu held firm, keeping a tight grasp on her scared friend's wrist.

"N-not this! I don't want to do this!"

"They're just barnacles, dammit! They're not going to hurt you!" In the back of her mind, Mio knew that was true, but something much louder in her brain wouldn't allow her to realize that. Instead, she was nearly in tears and begging Ritsu to let her go, but her friend wasn't budging, forcing her to confront her fears head-on. That was what she wanted, wasn't it? Ritsu could be pretty strong when she wanted, and finally Mio stopped struggling and let her hand lay limply on the barnacles. After letting her heartbeat slow down to appropriate levels, the sensations stopped feeling so awful. It certainly didn't feel comfortable, but allowing enough time to pass made it seem less terrible with each second gone by. It still sent an unwelcome chill down her spine though, and she was relieved when Ritsu let go of her wrist, allowing her to yank her hand out of there.

"Geeze, this'll be harder than I though." Ritsu rubbed the back of her head and laughed softly, getting Mio's attention. "I don't think these are just fears, Mio. They might be phobias. Like you're irrationally afraid of this stuff."

"I know what phobias are," the raven-haired girl muttered unhappily, though she wasn't really angry at Ritsu this time. It was a strangely knowlegable thing for her to say, actually. Completely out of character. If they were phobias though, what was she supposed to do about them? A hand on her shoulder broke her from her reverie, and she looked up to see Ritsu giving her a sympathetic smile.

"I know it's tough, Mio. I'm not going to give up on you, though. No matter how long it takes, I'll get you through this." That brought a smile to Mio's lips, and she nodded happily, allowing herself to lean on someone else for support for once. "Now let's go get something to eat! I was thinking gooseneck barnacles."

 _Erk!_ "Maybe you'll find them in the ocean." Mio pushed her friend towards the water, causing her to laugh and throw her hands up in mock surrender.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Geeze Mio-chan, you're such a bully." Mio just rolled her eyes and started walking away from the beach, Ritsu following behind her with a teasing grin.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Advice

A light tapping represented the only sound in the room, the rest shushed by the natural rules of the library. While the tapping didn't grow any louder, it did increase in tempo, as if it was performing its own percussion routine. Normally, this kind of thing would bother Mio, but today she didn't have the energy to scold Ritsu as she tap tapped away on the library desk with her pen, staring half-cocked at the open book in front of her. It was no secret that the short-haired drummer loathed studying, and moving up to university hadn't changed that; it showed in her antsy and annoyed stare, as if she was trying to will her studying materials out of existence. However, Mio chose to pay no mind to it today, instead keeping her nose buried in her own studywork. With an exam coming up, the two girls had made their way to the library to study, though not with the same intensity. Truth be told though, the raven-haired girl wasn't quite as into her work as she usually was. She soon realized that she'd read the same sentence twice in a row, and had to pull her head away to breathe. The words seemed a lot blurrier than she remembered; when had she started crying? "Mio?"

Ritsu was looking at her with concern. Slightly embarrassed, she wiped away the freshly-formed tears from her eyes. "It's nothing, Ritsu." She could already guess what her friend was going to ask, and she honestly didn't have any answer. She hadn't even noticed she was crying in the first place, and she didn't feel sad, so there were no reasons for tears to be there. "I just need a break."

"A break? You?"

"Haha, very funny." She knew Ritsu would take any excuse for a break though, and true to form she immediately stood up and headed outside, with Mio in pursuit. She would've walked right past her friend leaning against the outside wall if she hadn't of called out. Whipping around, she stood in front of Ritsu without knowing exactly what to do. She definitely needed a break, but she didn't know what to do with the time.

"You're still thinking about your phobias, aren't you?" This caught Mio by surprise, and she stared at Ritsu without giving a response. "Heh, you know, despite all the times I've seen you terrified or hiding in a corner or something, I've barely ever seen you cry. You've always been a lot better at keeping your emotions in check than the rest of us, so don't think I wouldn't notice this." She still had no response for this. After knowing Ritsu for so long, it was weird any time she decided to be so... mature. It'd be nice if she was like that more often, but she didn't think she'd ever get used to it if that was the case.

"It's just been a part of my life for so long, it seems normal," she admitted quietly, giving Ritsu a sideways glance.

"Maybe you need to talk to someone who can be a bit more serious than me; see what they have to say."

"Like who?"

* * *

"Oh, Mio-senpai! Good afternoon!"

"Ahah, hey Azusa. You don't have to keep calling me that, you know? Just 'Mio' is fine."

"Ah! Sorry Mio-sen... I mean, Mio." It had been awhile since Mio had actually spoken to the former youngest member of the Light Music Club. Sure, they had texted on occasion, but this felt like something that needed more vocalization. After she and Ritsu had finished studying, she went back to her room and made the call, but now she was hit with an awkward pause. While she was sure Azusa was aware of her fears - looking back on it, she wouldn't have been surprised if the entire school knew - she didn't know if the younger girl felt that it was that big of a problem. Well, it was time to find out.

"Azusa, the reason I called was because I wanted to ask you about something."

"Oh? About what?"

"Well..." It felt embarrassing to say now that she was finally about to say it, but it would've been a complete waste of Azusa's time if she just called and said nothing. "What do you think about me being so... well, scared of everything?"

"It's actually kind of cute." A blush crossed Mio's cheeks; that wasn't quite the answer she was expecting.

"I've started to realize that it's really unbecoming of me, and I..." And she what? Somehow the end of that sentence had not crossed her mind. Surely Azusa wouldn't be able to get rid of her fears; that was a silly thought. So what did she want? She didn't realize how long she'd let the silence drag on until the younger girl's voice sounded through the phone.

"You want to cure your fears?"

"Yeah..."

"Have you thought about seeing a therapist about it? I'm sure they'd be able to help you." Mio bristled at the thought of that kind of help. It seemed even worse to be so deep in something that she needed therapy, as if she was crazy. Well, maybe she was, but she certainly didn't want to admit _that_. Apparently Azusa got the hint from the continued silence. "Or maybe you could just do a mind over matter thing. If you believe you're not afraid, maybe it'll help you truly not be." It sounded better than therapy, at least.

"Yeah, I could try that. Uh, Azusa...?"

"Mhm?"

"Do you... do you think less of me because of how easily frightened I am?"

"No, of course not! You're awesome, Mio-senpai! I-I mean Mio." That got a chuckle out of her, and a small smile formed on her lips.

"You really mean that?"

"Of course!"

"Thank you, Azusa. I'm going to try what you suggested. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay; glad I could help. Bye Mio!"

"Goodbye." Mio set her phone down and leaned back in her chair, glancing up at the ceiling. _'Mind over matter, huh?'_ That was easy enough in theory, but how well would it work in practice? With that thought still on her mind, she stood up and walked out into the living room, where Ritsu was lounging on the couch and eating chips.

"So, how'd it go?" This was mumbled through a faceful of chips, causing Mio to roll her eyes at her friend's impoliteness.

"She suggested I try believing that I'm not afraid in order to actually not be afraid."

"I guess it couldn't hurt. You'd need to be out in a perfect situation to try it though."

"Yeah, but I don't think I want to go to the beach again." Ritsu laughed softly, setting down the bag of chips and looking over at the taller girl.

"Yeah yeah, good point. I have an idea though! There's this haunted house that's setting up just before Halloween, and it looks really awesome. You should come with me; that'll give you a great testing ground." Mio froze up and stared at Ritsu with wide eyes. Last time she'd done something like that was in high school, and it wasn't exactly by choice. It was also not exactly a time she wished to remember. Clearly Ritsu remembered it too. "Hmm, maybe you need more incentive. You _could_ come to the haunted house with me, or perhaps I can make a call to Sawa-chan and have her make you a perfect Halloween costume." What a terrible choice!

"Alright, alright, I'll go!" This felt like blackmailing, but she knew Ritsu would probably follow through, and there was absolutely no way she would go anywhere public in something Miss Sawako made. Over her dead body! Ritsu laughed and shot Mio a thumbs up, clearly enjoying her friend's discomforting choice.

"Alright! This is going to be fun." _'Yeah right.'_


	5. Chapter 5 - The Haunted House

"I don't think today is a good day to go."

"Eh? Why not?"

"I'm, uh, really tired."

"Mio, it's 8:00."

"I have class tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow's Saturday."

"Dammit, Ritsu!" There wasn't any way to get out of this, and Mio soon found herself very reluctantly following a rather chipper Ritsu towards a haunted house that had set up shop close by. While she did agree to do this, and she knew she needed to conquer her fears, at the moment her entire being was very much against such an event. She put up such a fight that even Yui called her a child. How mortifying. It still made her feel rather embarrassed, so she just quietly and sheepishly followed behind Ritsu, who was humming some stupid horror movie theme with Yui, who had insisted on tagging along. She didn't want to listen to their good mood humming, nor did she want to turn and look at Mugi, who had also decided to go; Mio could feel her eyes staring straight at her, but she just pretended not to notice. "Why couldn't we go earlier?"

Ritsu and Yui looked back and gave her a look, a look that made her feel like they thought her stupid. "That's so stupid, Mio-chan," Yui responded in her characteristically cute high-pitched voice. _Yeah, they do..._

"Why would we go to a haunted house in the daytime? That's no fun!" They had reached the house, and the four took their place in a small line that had queued up to wait on their turn inside. She didn't realize she was shaking until she heard Mugi's calming voice near her ear.

"Oh Mio-chan, you're shivering. Are you cold?" Mugi's eyes were shimmering with concern, causing a slight tinge of red to grace the raven-haired girl's cheeks. She was pretty content with that lie, but Ritsu wasn't going to allow that.

"Oh no, Mugi. _Mio-chan_ is scaaaared."

"Sh-shut up, Ritsu!" She punched her friend hard on the shoulder, causing her to respond with a slightly pained grin. After that, she spent the rest of their time in line staring at the ground, suddenly feeling very helpless. It seemed as if time was going by too fast, and soon enough she found herself climbing up the steps to the entrance, where the four of them were allowed inside. Once the door was shut, they were plunged into complete darkness.

Without really thinking about it, she grabbed the closest thing to her and clutched it tightly, which turned out to be Yui's arm. "Ah!" she shouted in surprise, causing Mio to jump back, right into something rather solid. What felt like a cold, clammy hand grabbed her shoulder, causing her to let out a loud scream and run forward, slamming right into what turned out to be Ritsu and knocking her to the floor.

"Mio, pull it together! It's only the first room!"

"S-sorry!" She stammered out fearfully, looking around wildly, but she could barely see anything in such a dark room. Another hand grabbed onto her, but this time the hand was grabbing her own, and it felt warm, comforting even. Looking over to her left, she could see the faint outline of Mugi, and could imagine her smiling warmly at her. That made her feel a little more at ease, and she allowed herself to follow Ritsu's voice, Mugi's footsteps in sync with hers. After allowing time for Yui to accidentally walk into a wall, they found themselves in a dimly-lit room, the color red very prominently bathing the walls in its eerie glow. The room had several large sarcophagi leaning against the walls, menacing in their slumber.

"This is so corny," Ritsu muttered with a laugh, but Mio's eyes kept darting from coffin to coffin, fearful that something - or someone - would pop out of them. _'It's just pretend, it's just pretend,_ she desperately told herself, but even the cold, firm grip of logic didn't quell her rising fear. Her ears picked up a soft creaking sound from behind them, and she quickly whipped around, but the coffin was as still as ever, propped up unmoving on the wall. Breathing a small sigh of relief, Mio turned around and watched as the sarcophagus in front of them slowly open and a mummy began to shuffle out. A loud scream came from her lips, and she could feel both Mugi's hand on her own and Ritsu's on her shoulder. "Mio, come on!" Ritsu shouted to be heard over her terrified friend.

"N-n-no, I-I can't do this, Ritsu!" Mio shouted right back in horror, and without warning she jerked her hand away from Mugi and started to run back the way they came. She ignored the surprised calls of her friends and yanked open the door to the previous room, only remembering how dark it was when she barreled inside and the door closed behind her, plunging her vision into complete darkness. Heart racing in panic, she ran forward in a desperate attempt to find the door, but ended up tripping over her own feet and crashing down to the floor. With now-sore knees, the raven-haired girl didn't attempt to get up, instead allowing herself to become overrun by negative emotions. Hot tears stained her cheeks and spattered on the floor as she cried, choking back a sob and pressing her shaking hands to her face. Her feelings of fear were ever-so slowly being replaced with hot shame, her face burning as she silently cried. She had completely failed, and she knew there was no way she could go back in there and show her face. On top of that, her fall had gotten her sense of direction all fouled up, and she had no clue where either door was now. For a moment, she just considered lying there and hoping the floor would just swallow her up, but the sound of a door opening caused her to lift her head up and look around. She could see the door to the coffin room open, and Mugi standing in the doorway, a look of terror clearly etched on her face even in the dimmed light.

"Mio! Oh gosh, it's terrible! Yui and Ritsu were kidnapped!" Eyes widening in surprise, Mio found her footing and began walking towards the door, quickly wiping her tears away with her sleeve. Once she got there, she allowed Mugi to pull her inside, the door shutting behind them. The two other girls were indeed not there, but why would they have been kidnapped? And by who?

"Mugi... I-Is this one of Ritsu's stupid jokes?"

"No! That mummy in the coffin? He wasn't part of the haunted house, and he grabbed Yui and Ritsu! I'm lucky he didn't grab me too! Oh Mio-chan, what will he do to them?" They really were kidnapped?... What was she to do? She considered just getting out of there with Mugi and alerting someone, but then who knew what might happen to Yui and Ritsu by then. The mummy guy couldn't have gotten far... With a nervous gulp, Mio steeled her nerves as best she could and looked at her remaining friend.

"We have to go after them."

"O-oh Mio-chan, but what if he's already escaped?"

"Then... Th-then that's a risk we have to take. He's probably heading for the end of the house, and he'll leave through there. We have to catch him! Come on!" Grabbing Mugi's hand, Mio began to run towards the end of the blood-red room. No sounds came from the coffins as the two girls rushed past, and quickly she had her hand on the exit. The third room awaited her, and she knew how terrified she felt... But her friends meant too much to her to allow herself to go back and cry on the floor. Exchanging a determined but fearful nod with Mugi, she opened the door and headed inside.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Kidnapper

When the two girls entered the next room, a heavy machine-induced fog rolled around them, up to the middle of their torsos. A sickly green color seemed to thrum upon the walls. Slowly taking a nervous step inside, Mio found her hand slip off of Mugi's as her eyes widened in surprise: there were three doors. They could have gone in any one of them, and she and Mugi might very well have to check each one. It was not a proposition she was looking forward to. Tentatively walking towards the door farthest from her, she stood hesitantly in the entrance before Mugi's voice caused her to turn around. "Mio-chan, over here!"

Rushing over towards her friend, Mio noticed something in Mugi's hand: Ritsu's hairband! "Where did you find that?"

"I accidentally stepped on it!" Mugi pointed towards the ground below, just in front of the door that had been on their left. "She must have dropped it so we could find her!" That was actually pretty smart for Ritsu. With a nod, Mio walked through the doorless archway and into another darkened room. Fumbling for guidance, she felt her foot depress something upon the ground, and suddenly a voice sounded throughout the room. _"Turn back now!"_ Mio let out a small squeak of fright as she jumped in surprise, and the room was silent once more. "Mio-chan?" The body of Mugi could now be felt bumping into Mio as the two friends found each other again in the darkness. Turning around, she could see the darkened outline of her blonde friend, and on instinct Mio grabbed her hand tightly before spinning back around and trekking forward once more. However, once more her foot found a difference in the floor, and again it pushed down and a voice called out in the room. _"Only doom awaits you!"_

Mio let out another small squeak, but this time she noticed something wasn't on the up and up. Testing it out, she lifted her foot and pressed it down one more. _"Only doom awaits you!"_ It was just a false floor and some fake voice! Letting out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding in, she realized all she had to do was fill her mind with nothing but logic and reason. Everything here was just for show, nothing more. Well, that was easier said than done...

The two girls bypassed the room with minimal effort after that, Mio barely even jumping at a third false floor press. However, when they entered the next room, the door they'd just entered through slammed shut. Turning around with alarm, they stared at it before Mugi gave it an experimental tug. "It's locked," she whispered. _'Oh great.'_ Well, there was nowhere to go but straight now. The two started forward, but their progress was suddenly halted by the sound of an opening latch. Once more turning around, they couldn't tell fully what was going on in the dark, but soon what they'd heard was revealed. The door that had previously been locked burst open, and a tidal wave of roaring water rushed in, heading straight for them. With a scream, they began to run towards the open exit, but the water was fast approaching. As Mio felt herself about to be swept away, she felt something push her forward. Eyes widening in surprise, she fell through the threshold of the door and onto her front. Whipping her head around, she only just had time to see Mugi shut the door before hearing the water slam against the wall, her friend's scream quickly cut off.

"Mugi!" She tried the door again, but it was firmly shut: something was barricading it. Shuddering at the thought of what - or who, precisely - it was, she was now further determined to get out of her so she could send someone in to save Mugi. And what luck! Mio's eyes shined when she saw an open door leading to the outside world. This was it! It was over! Overcome with relief and joy, she started to run towards the exit, but two rough hands landed firmly on her shoulders, stopping her in place. A hedonistic, almost cruel voice entered her ears: "Hey there, sexy lady. Why don't you come with me and join your friends in my van?" Mio's heart leapt into her throat. It was the kidnapper, and now he had her! How could she save her friends if she was captured as well? Terror rocketed through her body, but she knew it was beyond important that she do something, anything.

"Kyaaa!" With a terrified shout, she kicked backwards at his leg, causing a low grunt to sound behind her, and the grip on her shoulders loosened. Using the returned freedom of her body as momentum, she whirled around and gave a hard karate chop to the top of her assailant's head, getting a 'kyaa!' in return. She froze; that voice sounded familiar... and she had expected him to be taller... and to look less... like...

"R-Ritsu?!" The shock on Mio's face could have lit up the room as her best friend rubbed the top of her head, muttering in pain.

"Ow ow ow... Geeze Mio, that hurt!"

"Wh-what in the world are you doing?! I thought you were kidnapped!" She... was kidnapped, wasn't she? She didn't...

"Oh yeah, that was my idea. Pretty good, huh? I knew you wouldn't be able to get through this place without a little push, and look! You made it!" Ritsu grinned like she deserved a medal. Mio thought she deserved something a little bit different.

"RITSUUUUU!" The scream nearly shook the house with its power, and when Mugi entered the room fresh off of her 'drowning', she was treated to the sight of Ritsu running as fast as she could out of the room, with Mio in hot pursuit, anger flashing in her normally calm eyes.

"Oh come on, Mio! It was a joke!"

"I have a joke for you, then! Just... stand... still!" Mugi stared after them with mild surprise, enough to where she didn't notice Yui standing next to her until the other girl spoke up.

"Mugi-chan, do you think Mio-chan is cured now?"

"Aheheh... Maybe." Mugi laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head. It was a start, at least. "We'd better go catch them."


	7. Chapter 7 - The Party

That night a week ago sure had been an adventure. Mugi and Yui had been able to catch Mio, thankfully before she ended up strangling Ritsu. Once everyone had calmed down, even Mio had to admit she felt a bit better about it, and that maybe - and they really had to drag that particular 'confession' out of her - Ritsu's plan had worked, just a little. "But you'd better not pull a stunt like that again!"

The following week came and went quietly, and during the weekend Ritsu had convinced Mio to come with her to a Halloween party after much cajoling and promises that this wasn't another trap. The two of them had decided to revive an old faithful and went together as Romeo and Juliet, though Mio wasn't thrilled with Ritsu adding red splotches on her face for a more 'bloody Juliet' effect, as her friend called it. It was disgusting.

"Well Mio, I'm very proud of you for doing this. Tonight you'll enter your twelfth and final trial: Halloween edition!" Rolling her eyes, Mio counted in her mind all of the tricks Ritsu had done to her over the last several weeks. There was something off about that math.

"Ritsu, this would only be the fifth trial..." Immediately she clamped a hand over her mouth and stopped moving, instantly regretting what she said. If Ritsu realized this now, maybe her torment would never end. Her friend noticed the lack of a person next to her and looked over her shoulder, giving Mio a playfully apologetic glance.

"Oh, has it? Whoops! Ehehehe, I guess I shouldn't have been so ambitious... What's with that look? I'm not doing any more trials, I swear." It took a bit more work for Ritsu to get Mio to believe her and keep walking on towards the party.

* * *

The two of them continued on towards where the party was being hosted when something tapped Mio on the shoulder. "Ritsu, knock it off-" Mio turned towards her friend, but Ritsu had both of her arms at her sides, and the look she gave Mio was one of confusion.

"Knock what- Uh..." Well, that couldn't be good. Feeling a bit more nervous now, Mio slowly turned and found herself face to face with a white sheet. Oh, sorry, a _ghost._ Mio gave this 'ghost' a good eye roll, while Ritsu snickered in the background.

"Yui, what are you doing?" While she didn't know for sure that it was their ditzy friend, who else would choose a costume so... cliche and lazy? It had 'Yui' written all over it.

"Oooooh, I am the ghost of your friend Yuiiii. I am deaddddd!" Mio turned to give Ritsu an exasperated look, only to find the drummer doubled over in laughter. Not everyone who went to university gained maturity, clearly. Sighing, Mio gave Yui a gentle knock on the head and continued walking, hearing her say to Ritsu, "I think she's cured! She wasn't even scared!"

"Yeah, about that, Yui..."

* * *

They met Mugi along the way, and the sweets she had brought for everyone were able to get Yui out of her funk, which had been brought on after Ritsu clued her in on how non-threatening her costume was. Of course, there were still some problems with the renewed cheerfulness of their resident ghost.

"No, Yui, you have to eat it from inside the costume, or take it off."

"But that's so much workkkk!"

"Well, you should have cut yourself a mouth hole, dummy." Listening to her friends' playful banter, Mio couldn't help but laugh, stifling her giggling with a hand as they reached the dorm where the party was to take place. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. She felt a lot more grateful now that Ritsu had taken it upon herself to help, because she knew that she wouldn't have done it herself. Even if she knew this was still a work in progress, any improvement was notable.

The four of them were admitted inside, where Yui immediately went off to greet another one of her friends, "spooking" people along the way. The three remaining friends giggled softly as they made their way further inside, with Ritsu grabbing Mio's hand and dragging her to the refreshments table. "Want something to drink, Mio?" On the table was a bowl of red liquid, punch more than likely.

"Ah... You don't think they spiked it, do you?" This came out as a whisper, and now it was Ritsu's turn to roll her eyes.

"Geeze, Mio, so untrustworthy. Here, I'll try it first." She grabbed a cup and poured herself some punch, taking a long gulp of it before turning back to Mio. "Tastes safe to me. Loosen up, Mio." Ignoring Ritsu's little jab, Mio ended up pouring herself a drink and tasting it. It did seem fine... Shrugging to herself, she drank a bit more.

"There sure are a lot of people," Mio murmured as she glanced around the crowded room. She wasn't much of a partygoer, and the sheer amount of people unnerved her a little. That wasn't quite a preferred change of pace from Ritsu's little three week fearfest, but it was something. When she finally decided to look at Ritsu again, she had a strange smile on her face. "Eh? What is it, Ritsu?"

"Remember when we first performed as a band back in high school?" Ahh, so it was a reminiscent smile.

"Of course."

"And when we performed _Romeo and Juliet_?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, you were able to perform then with lots of people watching, so how is this any different?" Mio's eyes widened as Ritsu hit her with some stone cold logic. It would have been less surprising if she'd thrown a punch.

"It's weird when you act all mature, Ritsu. It's so unlike you." She had a smile on her face as she said it, and it got Ritsu to laugh in response.

"Hey hey, I'm not a one-trick pony, and don't you forget it." Mio rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but laugh along with Ritsu. Maybe she was right: she just had to imagine this was like one of their concerts. The thought calmed her somewhat. Maybe she'd never truly get over everything that scared or worried her, but trying hard to improve had to mean something. After all, things had been getting better, so it stood to reason they'd continue getting better.

"Ritsuuuuuu!" The two of them only had time to look behind Ritsu before Yui nearly flew at them and jumped, pouncing on top of the drummer. "Lead me to Heaven's gates, Ritsu!" Mio barely was able to jump backwards before the two collapsed to the floor.

"Yui, what the hell are you doing?!" Ritsu groaned as laughter echoed in the room, trying to push Yui off of her.

"I'm dead, Ritsu. You have to take me to the afterlife."

"What the hell, are you drunk?"

"Nooooo." Her slightly slurred speech was somewhat of an indicator saying otherwise, however.

"How'd you even get drunk? The punch isn't spiked."

"It's a seeecret... but it was her." Their inebriated friend pointed towards what she thought was someone at the party, but was instead a wall. Ritsu just rolled her eyes, then looked up at Mio, who was desperately trying to hide her laughter.

"You just gonna stand there or what?"

"Ahaha, sorry, sorry." Calming herself, Mio went down and helped Ritsu push Yui off before getting Ritsu to her feet, and then the two of them had to get Yui up, who was doing all she could to be difficult.

"Come on, Yui, get up!"

"Dun wannaaaaa." Mio wasn't much help either, as she couldn't stop from laughing, which made it harder to exert the appropriate effort in pulling Yui back up. Eventually someone else came to help, and they got Yui up and into the care of a concerned Mugi.

"Well, at least you're having fun." Ritsu pouted at Mio, who had finally stopped laughing, though there was still a big smile on her face. It was true, though: she _was_ having fun, something she hadn't imagined would be possible even that morning. Things were certainly looking up, and the thought comforted her. Ritsu did always somehow come through to pick her up, immaturity aside.

"Yeah Ritsu, I really am."


End file.
